Ville Valo on the chances of a HIM reunion
Ville Valo has addressed the possibility of a reunion of his band HIM.
The Finnish singer, who releases his debut solo album ‘Neon Noir‘ in January, was recently talking on ‘The James McMahon Music Podcast‘ about his former group, who split up in 2017.
“Never say never, I’d say,” said Valo. “HIM was so much more than just a band to me.”
“If there would be a good reason, a good sort of idea or good cause, or if, all of a sudden, everybody would start to gravitate towards each other, I think that would be the best thing.”
HIM, who originally formed in 1991, released eight studio albums together, before announcing in 2017 that they had decided to disband.
“I met Migé [bassist Mikko Paananen] when I was about 12 and Linde [guitarist Mikko Lindström] when I was maybe 13 or 14,” Valo continued. “So we grew up together and went through so many different phases in our lives anyway together, with HIM providing the soundtrack for it and the focus.”
HIM, which originally stood for ‘His Infernal Majesty’, sold over 10million records globally and became identified with a style of music known as ‘love metal’.
Valo, who now records under the name VV, is set to release his first solo album ‘Neon Noir’ on January 13 on Heartagram, which will include the recent singles ‘Echolocate Your Love’, ‘Loveletting’ and ‘The Foreverlost’.
Speaking to Kerrang! about the record, Vallo said: “Doing this album, and doing it the way I did it, gave me a chance to reflect, in a way, or to have a different perspective of who I am or what I want to do and what I have done and what can be done better, and so forth. Which then ended up being basically doing exactly the same thing I had before.”
The release of ‘Neon Noir’ will be followed by a lengthy tour of Europe and the UK. Tickets for the tour are on sale now. See the full list of dates below and pick up tickets for the UK dates here and European shows here.
FEBRUARY 2023
14 – Warsaw Proxima, Poland
15 – Krakow Kwadrat, Poland
16 – Prague Lucerna Music Bar, Czech Republic
17 – Berlin Huxley’s, Germany
18 – Hamburg Fabrik, Germany
20 – Amsterdam Paradiso, Netherlands
21 – Frankfurt Batschkapp, Germany
22 – Zurich Komplex, Switzerland
24 – Barcelona Razzmatazz, Spain
25 – Madrid La Riviera, Spain
26 – Lisbon Cineteatro Capitolio, Portugal
27 – Porto Hard Club, Portugal
MARCH 2023
2 – Milan Alcatraz, Italy
3 – Munich Backstage Werk, Germany
4 – Budapest Barba Negra, Hungary
5 – Vienna Arena, Austria
7 – Esch-sur-Alzette Rockhal, Luxemburg
8 – Cologne LMH, Germany
9 – Paris Le Trabendo, France
10 – Bristol O2 Academy, UK
11 – Nottingham Rock City, UK
13 – Glasgow Garage, UK
14 – Manchester O2 Ritz, UK
15 – London O2 Forum Kentish Town, UK
Valo will also be heading to the US for a run of dates after the UK and European shows, starting in Philadelphia on April 1 and ending in New York on May 8. You can see all dates and get tickets here.
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Max Pilley
NME